Two-compartment container



June 15,1943.

W. W. CROUCH ETAL TWO-COMPARTMENT CONTAINER Filed April 4, 1942 PatentedJune 15, 1943 prise sin s TWO COMPARTMENT CQNTAINER Wentworth W. Grouchand Arthur W. M. Dickins, Rochester, N. Y;, assignors to Eastman KodakCompany, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey orricsApplication April 4, 1942, Serial No. 437,566

2 Claims.

vention is to provide a two-compartment container in which one containermay be suspended in the other before the materials are placed therein.Another object of our invention is to provide a two-compartmentcontainer in which the parts of the container vary but little fromstandard products on the market so that the containers are relativelyinexpensive. Still another object of our invention is to provide atwo-part container which can be quickly and easily filled. Other objectswill appear from the following specification, the novel features beingparticularly pointed out in the claims at the end thereof.

Coming now to the drawing wherein like reference characters denote likeparts throughout,

Fig. 1 is a section through a typical container constructed inaccordance with and embodying a preferred form of our invention,

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of a disc provided with apertures forsuspending a small container in the large container and for loading thelarge container,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View showing the position of the smallcontainer relative to the large container during the loading operation,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail section showing the connection between asmall container and the supporting disc,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a second embodiment ofour invention.

In a preferred embodiment of our invention shown in Fig. 1, we providedan outer container 1 having an open end 2 surrounded by a threaded neck3. A disc 4, as shown in Fig. 2, is of a size and shape to cover theopen top 2 of the container I. This disc is provided with a centralaperture 5 for suspending a small container 6 and there are a series ofapertures l which may be used for filling a large container I.

The small container 6 is provided with an open end 8 surrounded by athreaded neck 9 and a screw cap I 0 may be placed on the container, thiscap mating with the threads 9 on the neck of the container.

As best shown in Fig. 4, the bottom flange l l of this cap is formedoutwardly so that this flange, together with a flange l2 surrounding theneck of the container 6, receives the disc 4 between them so as tosuspend the small container 6 from the disc 4.

In loading the container I, it is desirable to place the disc 4 over theopen end of the container and to suspend thesmall container 6 from thedisc as indicated in Fig. 3. The chemical or other material which is tobe placed in the container I may then be flowed into the containerthrough an aperture 7 air escaping from one or more apertures not usedfor the filling material. If

desired, a funnel 13 may be provided so that the material may be flowedinto the large container 1 about at least a part of the smallercontainer 6. After this is done, a screw cap l5 which may have the usuallining I6 is placed on the container i,

this cap having a threaded area ll mating with the thread 3 of the largecontainer I. This construction is not only simple but the containers canbe easily and quickly loaded and unloaded.

In a second embodiment of our invention shown in Fig. 5, a container 20is provided with a threaded neck 2| adapted to receive a threaded flange22 of a screw cap 23 having the usual lining 24. This screw cap andlining are provided with a pair of openings, a loading opening 25 and acontainer suspending opening 26. The first mentioned opening liesbeneath an upwardly extending threaded flange 21 adapted to receive ascrew cap 28 and having the usual lining 29.

The opening 26 lies beneath an opening 30 of a similar size and shape inthe top of the screw cap 23. These openings are of a size to permit athreaded neck 3| of a small container 32 to extend through the openingsthere being a flange 33 on the container 32 of a size which will notpass through the openings. Thus, by providing a threaded cap 34 for thethreaded neck 3! of the smaller container, the smaller container can beheld in place when a threaded flange 35 is turned so that an outwardlyflaring flange 36 pinches the threaded cap 23 between the flanges 33 ofthe container 32 and the outwardly flared portion 36 of the screw cap34.

In this form of the invention the larger container 20 is fllled byunscrewing the cap 23 and utilizing the opening 25 in the lining 24 as afilling opening. This can be done after the smaller container 32 hasbeen filled and placed in posi tion on the screw cap 23.

In the second described form of our invention the inner container 32 isremoved with the screw cap 23 since it is supported by the screw cap. Inthis form of the invention the closure for the larger container isprovided with two openings one for filling the larger container and theother for supporting a smaller container so that this latter containermay be positioned before the larger container is loaded. If the largercontainer is to be loaded with a material such as a salt or othergranular substance, it has been found that if the container is filledwith such materials it is later impossible to insert a smaller containerinto the granular mass and it is therefore necessary to position thesmaller container so that the salt or other material may be filled inaround the smaller container.

In the first described embodiment of our invention the smaller containermay be supported in the larger container for loading by the disc 4 whichmay be rested on the top of the neck 3 as shown in Fig. 3. In this formof our invention the material may be loaded through a loading aperturein the disc 4 and after the loading operation is complete the screw cap15 may be turned to its said position in Fig. 1 since the centralaperture in the screw cap [5 is of a size to turn about the screw capI!) of the centrally located small container.

It will thus be seen that in both embodiments of our invention it ispossible to suspend a small container in a large one to facilitateloading the large container after which the opening through which thelarge container is loaded may be closed by a screw cap. In the firstdescribed embodiment of our invention, this screw cap is a screw cap l5whereas in the second described embodiment of our invention this screwcap is the screw cap 28.

We claim:

1. A two-compartment container including, in combination, a large jarhaving an open end, a disk fitting the open end of the jar including asupporting aperture and a filling aperture, a small jar fitting in thesupporting aperture, a cap for engaging the small jar and disk to holdthe small jar suspended in the large jar, said filling aperturepermitting filling the large jar with the small jar suspended therein,and means for holding the disk on the large jar and closing the fillingaperture therein comprising a cap member for engaging the open end ofthe large jar.

2. A two-compartment container including, in combination, a large jarhaving an open end provided with a threaded neck, a threaded capattachable to the threaded neck having a central aperture therein, asmall jar having an opening and a threaded neck, a disk fitting thethreaded opening of the large jar and having a central aperture forsuspending the small jar by said neck, a threaded cap engaging said diskand threaded neck of the small jar, a filling opening in the disk, saidthreaded cap for the large jar closing the filling opening, said centralaperture clearing the cap of the small jar when the apertured cap isscrewed onto the threaded neck of the large jar.

W'EN'I'WOR'I'H W. CROUCH. ARTHUR W. M. DICKINS.

